2013 REPSOL HONDA TEAM LAUNCH

In addition to officially welcoming Marc Marquez into the Repsol Honda Team alongside Dani Pedrosa, the launch also saw the unveiling of the latest generation of Honda's MotoGP weapon, the RC213V, in all-new livery for 2013.

While the Respol logo remains prominent, the new design features more red and white than the dark blue and orange of past seasons. Márquez commented the machine was "muy bonita" (very beautiful), whilst Pedrosa, who has been on the bike since 2006, said it was refreshing to see a new paint job.

Before Pedrosa and Marquez and the new-liveried bike took to the stage, HRC Executive Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto explained that the bike was not a radical redesign, but a continual evolution from last season.

With a 3kg weight increase to cope with, Nakamoto commented that the team had had ample time to prepare the machine for this season, sighting that the main differences are a bit more power, as well as better fuel efficiency. The bike is still based on the model that was brought in for Pedrosa at last year's Laguna Seca round.

Nakamoto told those present that he expects Pedrosa to continue his blistering form from the end of last year and challenge for the title, whilst saying that with Márquez's talent he expects the rookie to be on the podium. He acknowledged that Márquez was very quick over one lap, yet sighted tyre management as the main thing he will have to pick up.

Present at the launch were Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, Alberto Puig and Emilio Alzamora, where a slight change to the team's management structure was also revealed, with Livio Suppo having been announced as new Team Principal.